New Year's shooting outside South Side Saginaw bar results in prison for former Mount Morris man

SAGINAW, MI — A former Mount Morris man is headed to prison for shooting a Saginaw man nine times outside a South Side Saginaw bar early New Year's Day.

Fernando Nunez appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Robert L. Kaczmarek on Monday, Nov. 18, and pleaded no contest to two felonies in the shooting of Rafael Ramirez Jr., who survived his injuries.

Nunez, 33, pleaded to assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the early morning incident at the Paddock Lounge, 2921 Hess.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will drop a charge of assault with intent to murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, as well as five firearm offenses. As part of the agreement, prosecutors will stipulate, or agree to, to have Kaczmarek hand down a minimum sentence for the assault charge within Nunez's state sentencing guidelines.

Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd said those guidelines are preliminarily scored at 17 months to three years and 11 months, and his office will ask Kaczmarek to hand down a minimum sentence at the top of those guidelines. Kaczmarek then will set a maximum; the maximum penalty for the assault charge is 10 years in prison, but Nunez's second-time habitual offender status makes the maximum 15 years.

Before beginning his sentence for the assault charge, Nunez first will have to serve the mandatory two years for the felony firearm charge. He likely will receive credit for the approximately 11 months he will have served by the time he's sentenced.

Boyd said "the primary reason" his office entered into the agreement was because Ramirez, 32, has three open felony drug-related cases and has served prison time for first-degree home invasion.

"We had to look at the credibility of our witnesses," Boyd said.

Ramirez testified at Nunez's preliminary hearing that Nunez shot him as Ramirez was walking to his car outside of the bar. Ramirez testified that when he was walking, he heard the parking lot's gravel moving behind him, and when he turned around he saw Nunez, also known as “Nando,” aim a handgun at him and say, “Talk that (expletive) now.”

Ramirez said Nunez, whom he's known for about 10 years, then fired twice, striking Ramirez in the upper left arm. Ramirez fell to the ground and tried to get up to run, he said, but Nunez fired at least seven more times, hitting Ramirez mostly in the legs, he said.

Ramirez testified that the shooting happened about two or three weeks after he had a heated argument with brothers Jimmy and Mike Gilbert at a house on South Park in Saginaw. Nunez was outside the house at the time, Ramirez said.

In addition to the assault charge, prosecutors also will drop single counts of possessing a firearm as a felon and carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent and three additional counts of felony firearm.

Kaczmarek is scheduled to sentence Nunez, who remains jailed on a $100,000 bond, on Dec. 16.